KBSN Sports commentator Kim Tae-gyun (41), a former hard-hitting slugger in the KBO, will host a youth baseball camp for aspiring baseball players in Hongseong. He will be joined by nine former and current KBO stars.
Kim, who played 19 seasons in the KBO and was one of the best hitters of his era with a batting average of .322 with 2209 hits, 311 home runs, 1,358 RBIs, a .421 on-base percentage, a .516 slugging percentage and a .936 OPS, has been preparing a baseball foundation for youth since he retired from Hanwha in 2020, but the process has taken longer than expected. After retiring, Kim was busy with various broadcasting activities as well as baseball commentary, which made his time even tighter.
However, he said, “I’m going to do whatever I can to help young players. There’s a lot of work to do, but I want to do it well,” he said. He met with various local governments, organized a management team to prepare activities for youth baseball, and finally opened a camp with his name on it.
The Kim Tae-gyun Baseball Camp will be held at the Mandae Stadium in Seongsung-myeon, Hongseong-gun, Chungcheongnam-do on June 18 and 19. Fifty-two youth baseball players from all over the country will come to Hongseong in honor of Han’s number 52, which has become his permanent number. The 52 players were selected equally by region and team, 바카라사이트 and the program is packed with systematic training and mentoring time for each position.
It’s been a dream of his for a very long time.
“I’ve been thinking about organizing a youth baseball program since I retired,” he says, “and I’ve been looking into it for a while. I kept looking into various things, but there was more to it than I thought, and it took a long time to prepare. As my commentary and broadcasting work stabilized to a certain extent, I was able to pursue youth baseball in earnest.”
The location, Hongseong-gun, Chungnam, also stands out. Kim says, “Hongseong-gun is very interested in baseball. It is the only county in the country that has baseball teams from elementary school, middle school, high school, and university. It’s the only county in the country that has baseball teams from elementary school, middle school, high school, and university.” This led to him becoming an ambassador for Hongseong County.
According to Kim, Hongseong County has baseball teams of all ages, including the national championship-winning Hongseong Little Baseball Team, Hongseong BC-U16, Gwangcheon Kpop High School, and Cheongwoon University. The Manjae Stadium is also a newly built stadium this year, with more to come. Baseball infrastructure is also well developed.
Former and current KBO stars are also in town to support Kim.
Jung Woo-ram, Chae Eun-sung, Lee Tae-yang (Hanwha), Kang Min-ho, Koo Ja-uk (Samsung), Son Ah-seop (NC), and Heo Kyung-min (Doosan), and retired players Yoo Hee-kwan and Choi Jun-seok (Doosan) will attend the camp as coaches. The league’s top players in each position, including pitchers, catchers, infielders, and outfielders, answered Kim’s call.
“I’m really grateful to the junior players who are willing to help out when they hear that their seniors are doing good work,” said Kim. “We will continue to organize baseball camps in the future. “We had a lot of applications, and we tried to make sure that it was evenly distributed across the region and that it wasn’t lopsided. We are also planning an exchange program with the Japanese team for the best players. We hope this will be an opportunity for many aspiring baseball players to get one step closer to their dreams.”